Salinas City Council poised to take action on Jose Castaneda

More pressure is slowly coming to bear on Jose Castaneda, the Salinas City Councilman who serves as a Salinas school board member for the Alisal Union School District.

On Friday, Salinas City Councilwoman Jyl Lutes told KSBW that the California Attorney General’s Office has indicated it will allow the city to begin the quo warranto process. That process would make the city a plaintiff in determining whether or not it is legal for Castaneda to hold two public offices within the same city at the same time, or if it represents a conflict of interest in violation of state law.

This news comes at the same time the city asked the Alisal Union School District board to respond to an inquiry from the city about how the school board intends to address the questions about Castaneda’s two offices. The city asked for a response by Friday, March 15.

Late Friday afternoon, the city received the following response from a law firm representing the Alisal school district: "... the Alisal Union School District graciously declines to develop responses to your questions. With all due respect, the Alisal District will continue to focus its energies, and to invest time and resources, on matters directly pertaining to the education of the District's children."

All this sets the stage for a March 19 Salinas City Council meeting during which Castaneda will be at the forefront. A law firm, Remcho, Johansen & Purcell, was hired by the city to investigate Castaneda's duel posts and it will present its report at the meeting.

The report states, “A court would likely find that Mr. Castaneda is in violation of the Incompatible Offices Statute. The law is rooted in the public policy that the electorate has a right to the undivided loyalty of its elected officials, and that a person may not serve two masters.”

The report goes on to identify situations in which a conflict of interest may arise.

“On numerous occasions, the Attorney General has held that a person violates the incompatible offices doctrine when he simultaneously serves as a city council member and trustee of a school district with territory in common with the city," the report states.

The law firm offers three options for the city to address the concerns:

1. Do nothing. 2. Refer the matter to the Attorney General and her office could decide whether to take action. 3. The city could seek leave from the Attorney General to prosecute a quo warranto action.

KSBW has tried to reach Jose Castaneda for comment on this story, but he has not returned calls.

KSBW will attempt to get Castaneda comments again at the school board's 7 p.m. meeting tonight. Only two items are on the agenda for that meeting: a presentation on school safety during open session and a closed session item labeled as “Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release.”